Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are increasingly relevant public health issues owing to their close association with the worldwide epidemics of diabetes and obesity (Ratziu et al. (2010), J. Hepatol. 53(2):372-384). NAFLD and NASH are ones of the most common chronic liver diseases. Indeed, in a recent US survey, 39% of newly identified cases of chronic liver disease had NAFLD (Weston et al. (2005), Hepatology 41(2):372-379). Chronic inflammation and fibrosis are key features of NASH, distinguishing it from the relatively benign NAFLD. NASH has potential for fibrosis, cirrhosis decompensation, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Despite its severity and prevalence, there are no approved treatments for NASH. Therefore, there is a need to develop new drugs that will be suitable for treatment of NASH. In this way, characterisation of new therapeutic targets in NASH is highly desirable.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of noncoding RNAs, 19-22 nucleotides in length that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level via messenger RNA (mRNA) degradation or translational inhibition (Bartel (2009), Cell 136(2):215-233).
There is no disclosure in the art of a functional role of miR-21 in NASH, nor a cause-effect relationship of miR-21 with NASH, nor the provision of a beneficial effect of the use of compounds that inhibits miR-21 expression in the treatment of NASH.